« Self-injury may be symptom of larger problem, mental-health experts say | Main | Programs launch, expand mental-health services for returning troops, veterans. »
January 08, 2009
Writer says involuntary psychiatric hospitalization may have saved his life
In an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times (12/30), Los Angeles writer Robert David Jaffee, who underwent involuntary psychiatric hospitalization and received treatment after a psychotic episode nearly 10 years ago, observes that "too many people" with mental illness "don't get the proper treatment."
The reasons for this include "the costs and limitations of healthcare," and the fact that some "people are too sick to know they need help." Others "have refused treatment." Jaffee writes, "It is much better to encourage, rather than force, the mentally ill to get treatment. But what if they don't respond?"
While "the civil rights issues involved with forced treatment of the mentally ill are real and shouldn't be downplayed," Jaffee concludes that "being involuntarily held at the hospital in 1999 allowed" him "to get back on" his "medication -- and may have" even saved his life.
Related Links:
- "When mental illness and civil rights collide," Robert David Jaffee, Los Angeles Times, December 29, 2008.
Posted by admin at January 8, 2009 11:20 AM